Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom pumps his fist in front of Syracuse's Brandon Triche after sinking a basket late in the game. MORE PHOTOS

The Marquette Golden Eagles finally solved the mystery that had been the Syracuse Orange on Saturday at the Bradley Center, posting a 76-70 win in front of a sellout crowd of 19,032.

But truth was, the afternoon for MU was about so much more than snapping its 0-4 skid in Big East play against Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim and his No. 9-ranked squad.

It was about handling a 2-3 zone defense. It was about executing in the clutch. It was about withstanding an opponent's second-half run. And it was definitely about regaining confidence after a two-week span of heartbreaking losses and missed opportunities that tested the Golden Eagles' mettle.

"Look at what's gone on in our league over the last two weeks," said coach Buzz Williams afterward, minutes before rushing off to catch a flight for a recruiting trip. "When's the last time Syracuse has lost four games in a row? Look it up and you'll see how hard it is, you know what I mean?

"Villanova gets beat in their crackerbox gym today, and they never get beat there. They got beat by Georgetown, who started 1-4. It's just how volatile the league is, how volatile life is. You compete against the best, and that's a really hard thing to do. You get beat and you're like, 'Man, we're so close.'

"But you've got to get to the next play. Because if you don't get to the next play, you're going to get beat again. And this league gives you opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to prove yourself."

The heroes in this one were many for MU (14-8, 5-4 Big East).

Junior forward Jae Crowder shrugged off an early injury to the pinky finger on his right (shooting) hand to do yeoman's work against Syracuse's huge front line, finishing with a game-high 25 points on 8-for-16 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. His play on the baseline in 36 minutes was crucial.

Senior forward Jimmy Butler scored 19 points and grabbed a game-high eight boards, but it was his two huge three-pointers - one with 4 minutes 2 seconds left, the other coming at the 1:51 mark - that helped stave off a late charge by the Orange (18-4, 5-4). He worked the gaps in the zone to perfection.

Then there was Darius Johnson-Odom's 17 points, 7-for-7 day from the free-throw line and three with just under 1 minute to play that gave the Golden Eagles some much-needed breathing room. Dwight Buycks' career-high eight assists. Chris Otule's quiet yet effective 29 minutes banging in the post.

The Golden Eagles needed it all, too, as the Orange shot 57.1% for the game and a silly 68.2% in the second half to keep things close right down to the wire.

"When you play a team like Syracuse, they're going to make runs," Johnson-Odom said. "It's just how you control their runs. I think our mind-set was just we wanted to win this game. We learned from all eight losses, the close games that we've had, what we needed to do."

MU played about as well as it could have hoped to start the game, continually getting into the gaps of Syracuse's 2-3 and shooting 54.2% in taking a 42-31 halftime lead. It got 12 points apiece from Crowder and Johnson-Odom while at the same time keeping a lid on the Big East's best big man, 6-foot-9 Rick Jackson.

"They got too much penetration in the first half with the guards," Boeheim said.

The Orange clamped down noticeably right out of the locker room, though, and before the first media timeout had gone on an 8-1 run that got the crowd on edge. Syracuse kept chipping away, and by the 8:17 mark had actually pulled even at 56-56 on a Scoop Jardine layup.

MU led, 60-59, when Butler hit the first of his two big threes. The first one, a tough fadeaway from the right wing, came off a Buycks pass with the shot clock winding down.

Syracuse answered with a three-point play from Jackson, though, and had tied the game at 66-66 with 2:28 remaining when Butler again delivered.

This time the dagger came from deep in the left corner, right in front of the MU bench and out of a timeout, putting the Golden Eagles ahead to stay. Johnson-Odom then hit a three on the next possession, and MU hit 4 of 6 free throws the rest of the way to hold on.

"The play was actually for (Johnson-Odom)," Butler said. "But him being a great teammate, he was guarded and just hit the open guy. I just rose up and knocked it down."

Said Boeheim, whose team never led: "You've got to give him credit. It was the toughest shot of the game. He made a tough shot with the clock going out in the corner. He made two great plays, and that was the ball game, really."

MU, the highest-scoring team in the Big East coming in, shot 52.3%, out-rebounded Syracuse, 26-24, and made 24 of 33 free throws (72.7%) compared with the Orange's 8 for 14.

Kris Joseph had 18 points, Jackson 14 and Jardine 13 and 13 assists to lead Syracuse.